The Secret Assassin
by MerchDoyle
Summary: Formerly known as 'I can be your hero.' A strange girl saves Johnny's life, but who is she? COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimers: I don't own the F4 characters, I do own all the rest. The title is a line from the song 'Hero.'

A/n This is basically a re-post, but because I changed the ending, I need to change little bits in the story so it ties in with the new ending.

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Introduction

"Help, I need help!" a voice cried from down the hall.

Sue Storm looked at her fiancé Reed Richards, "That's Johnny," she said immediately recognising her younger brother's voice. She and Reed got up from the couch they ad been happily snuggling on and hurried into the direction of the voice.

Johnny was standing in front of them with a girl cradled in his arms, "She needs help," he looked pleadingly at Reed.

The older man nodded, "Follow me to the lab," he indicated leading the way. When they reached the laboratory, he pointed to the examination table, "Lay her down over there."

Johnny placed her gently on the table, and waited for Reed. "Who is she?" Sue asked him.

Johnny shook his head, "I don't know," he said.

"What happened?" was the next question.

Again Johnny shook his head, "I don't exactly know," he confessed. Sue could tell he was a little dazed, and took his hand leading him to a nearby chair.

"Sit," she ordered and went to get him a glass of water. "Drink," she ordered handed him the glass. He sat, and placed the subconsciously placed the bag he'd been holding on the floor. He took the glass with a shaking hand and brought it to his lips taking a sip.

He glanced over to the table where the girl lay, Reed was standing by her side. Johnny couldn't tell what he was doing, everything was a blur to him at that moment.

"She'll be alright," Sue told him gently, "Reed will make her better," she assured him again when he met her gaze. Johnny nodded, and allowed his sister to lead him out if the laboratory and into his room.

"You need to rest," she told him.

"Stay with me," he pleaded with her. Sue nodded; he looked exactly like he did when he got scared when he was a child. Sue was his only female influence, and always took care of him; she always got rid of the monsters hiding under his bed, and stayed with him until he felt safe again.

They both sat on the edge of his bed and he rested his head in her lap. That was how he stayed, with Sue stroking the side of his face and hair, until Reed entered the room.

Johnny sat upright, "Is she going to be ok?" he asked, his face full of concern.

Reed nodded slightly, "I think so," he replied. "You really need to tell us what happened, whatever you know," he told him. Johnny nodded his reply.

Sue saw a flicker of unknowing in the scientists' eyes, "Reed, what's wrong?"

Reed shook his head, he couldn't quite believe what he was about to say, "She's doesn't seem to be human," he said.

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A/n I hope you liked it, please r&r, but no flames please. Don't worry if you're a little confused, you haven't missed anything-confusion is good!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimers: weep I don't own the F4 characters, no matter how much I want to…

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Sue looked wide-eyed at Reed, "What do you mean 'not human'?" she asked, repeating him.

Reed looked baffled, "Exactly what I said, the tests I just ran on her showed she wasn't human…" he repeated. "That's why we need to know exactly what happened," he looked a Johnny, who was string at the carpet, "In the best way you can explain," he added gently.

Johnny cleared his throat, "Ok," he said slowly and watched as the older male pulled a chair to sit on. "Remember a few nights ago Ben got attacked by the 'anti F4 fan club' people?"

Sue nodded, "When they threw chisels and hammers at him?" she asked.

Her brother nodded, "Yeah," he paused. "Well I wanted to go for a walk, I needed some fresh air. Seeing as no one seems to recognise us easily in the dark. You guys were watching TV, and Ben's with Alicia," he explained, "I wasn't doing anything."

"What does this have to do the gang?" Sue asked gently.

"I walked down the ally, and they were there," he told her. "I wasn't looking for trouble," he said defensively, he glanced briefly at the two, in case they though they did, before returning his gaze to the floor. "I went to walk away and they were shouting at me to do demonstrations, they were saying stuff like 'when's the elastic man gonna snap?' and 'one day rocky's gonna crumble'," he looked at Sue. "They said you were too young to be my mother, and asked if the reason she's no longer around was 'cos she was sick of the sight of me," he said with tears brimming his eyes.

Sue took hold of Johnny's hand and kissed his forehead, and rubbed his shoulder, "It's ok," she soothed as he let himself cry a little.

Johnny took a few deep breaths, and returned his gaze back to the floor, "I turned to confront them, and that's when one of them hit me," he said.

"Where?" Reed asked him studying his face.

Without looking up, Johnny touched his cheek, "There, with a bat…" he confessed.

Reed knew how hard it was for Johnny to admit when he'd had his backside kicked, and appreciated him confessing this to them.

Johnny took another deep breath, "They all started on me, about six of them. I don't exactly know what happened next; there were a few minor punches, then I felt a sharp pain in my side. When I looked down I saw blood," he touched his side, there was a hole in his shirt. "I…I… think one st…stabbed me," he stammered.

Johnny started trembling a little, and Sue held him closer to her. "The last thing I saw before I passed out was the girl, she just came out of nowhere…," he said. "Everything went black… and when I came to I couldn't feel any pain, and they'd gone." He shook his head, "For a second, I thought maybe I'd dreamt it or something, but then I saw her lying on the ground, I just didn't understand…" he paused finally looking at Sue then at Reed. "I felt for a pulse, and there was a faint one, so I bought her here…" he finished.

The other two were silent, absorbing the information Johnny had just given them. It was Reed who spoke first, "The injuries you listed, are you sure?" he asked.

The young man stared at him, "Of course I'm sure!" he exclaimed. "You think I'm crazy?"

"Shhh," his sister soothed, "Calm down," she said. "Reed, where's this going?" she asked her fiancé.

Reed shook his head, "It's just, the girl has a bruise on her face, and a stab wound…" he explained.

"What?" the siblings asked in simultaneously.

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A/n There you go, second chapter – rather the first if you don't count the introduction… Meh, I dunno… Please review, but no flames… Thank you.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimers: I'm just a poor person who writes for fun, therefore I don't own any of the F4 characters, all the rest though I do own unless stated otherwise.

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Had the three of them been in the laboratory, they would have seen the bruise on the girls face fade until there was nothing there, and her wounded side heal. They would have seen her eyes flicker, flutter a little and slowly open.

They would have witnessed her slowly rise and push away the blanket that Reed had placed over her. They would have seen her swing her legs over the side of the examination table and slide off the bed, look around and notice her bag lying on the floor. She reached and picked it up, unzipping the opening, then smiling looking at the contents. But they weren't there, so they didn't see her, neither did they see her make her way out of the room.

She could hear where they were, and followed the faint murmur of voices to a room with an open door, and stood just outside of it.

"How is that possible?" said a young man's voice, "How can _she_ have the injuries that were inflicted on me?" he sounded so confused.

The next voice she heard was deeper, "I don't know, like I said she's not human," the older man said.

"How do you know exactly?" it was a female's voice this time, "She looks human, was it her blood?" she asked.

A short silence followed, the girl looked into the room and saw the older man, the man who the deep voice belonged to, was nodding. "Her blood is red, just like ours… but her blood cells are a different shape," he said.

She looked from the older man to the younger one, the one she saw lying on the ground, he was sitting next the woman. The three kept looking at each other, until all of a sudden they decided to look in the direction of the door.

They'd seen her… she went to move, but she couldn't. Her legs wouldn't do what her brain was telling them to do. 'This must be the fear feeling' she thought to herself.

The woman was the first to stand, and walked slowly towards her, "It's ok, we're not going to hurt you," she said gently. "My name is Sue Storm," she said. "That is Reed Richards," she said pointing at the older man, "and he is my brother Johnny," she pointed at the younger male.

The girl nodded, and shifted on her feet a little having regained control over her limbs. She was afraid, but she didn't feel threatened, there was something soothing about the voice that belonged to the woman who'd called herself Sue.

Sue turned to look at Reed, who got on his feet and joined her. They were both then joined my Johnny, who still looked a little pale. "Are you ok?" Reed asked her, she nodded her reply. He walked up to her slowly and pointed at her face, he was baffled as there was no longer any signs of injury on her cheek. "May I?" he asked pointing to her side. The girl took a step back as he moved his hands closer to her. "Sorry," he said gently, and watched as she slowly rose her shirt a little showing there were no longer signs of a stab wound.

Reed shook his head, "I don't understand…" he said. "How is that possible?" he asked himself.

Only the girl was confused, "Is that question directed to me, or is it a question that is rhetorical?" the others looked dumb founded at her English. "Why do you watch me so? Did I say something wrong?" she asked.

"You speak English?" Sue asked.

The girl swallowed as if she was trying to stop herself from saying something, then she nodded, "I speak many different languages…" she told them.

"What is your name?" Johnny asked, the colour beginning to return to his face.

The girl laughed a little, "It is difficult to pronounce," she said."

Reed coughed, "I'm sorry, but I'm a little confused. When I left you in the laboratory, you were barely alive, and now you stand here in as if there had been nothing wrong," he paused. "I know this sounds rude, but I think you owe us an explanation."

Sue elbowed him, "You're right that does sound rude," she said to him with an annoyed tone in her voice.

"Yes, but I feel Reed is correct," the girl interjected, "You are in need of an explanation," she wavered a little and put a hand on the wall to steady herself, in her other hand, she clutched he bag tightly (an action no-one noticed).

Sue took her arm just above the elbow gently to support her, "Are you alright?" she asked concerned.

The girl smiled faintly, "I am afraid I am still a little weak," she confessed.

"Maybe you should sleep for a bit," Johnny suggested, gesturing to his bed.

The girl smiled again, "I do not wish to sound ungrateful, but you are male," she stated.

Johnny blushed as he felt everyone looking at him, "You can use by bed," she said leading her in the direction of her room.

Johnny looked at Reed, "Best choice, she doesn't use it anymore," he grinned.

Reed smiled, a little embarrassed, "You seem to be feeling better," he observed.

The young man smiled, "I am a little wiped," he confessed.

"Sounds like you too need to 'sleep a bit'," Reed said quoting him.

Johnny smiled and made his way to his bed, pulling back the cover and taking off his shoes. As he did this, Reed turned off the lights, stepped out into the hallway and pulled the door closed.

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End of Chapter


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimers: Same old, I don't own the F4 characters, all the rest I do own unless stated otherwise… so please don't sue me unless it's absolutely necessary.

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Reed and Sue were sitting in the kitchen when Ben returned the following morning. "Hey," he greeted as he clomped into the kitchen.

"Morning," the other two said simultaneously.

There was a short silence before Sue asked, "How's Alicia?"

Ben nodded as he carefully poured coffee into a metal beaker, "She's alright, still a little freaked out by the other night, but she went to work today," he said.

"That's good," Sue said.

There was another silence, one that made Ben wander if something had happened, "What?" he asked looking from Reed to Sue.

Reed took a deep breath, "You may want to sit down," a said pulling out Ben's metal chair.

The big orange man's eyes widened, "What happened? Is Flame Boy alright?" he asked since Johnny was the only one not in the kitchen.

Sue nodded, "He's fine, but he did have a run in with the anti's," she said.

Ben slammed his fist down on the table, "What the hell is wrong with the kid?" he said angrily, "Why can't he just leave thing's alone? The last thing we need is to give them more of a reason to hate us!" he finished.

"That's not fair!" Sue said angrily.

Ben looked at her, "I'm sorry Suzie, I know he's your brother and all, but even you have to admit he's a hot head!" he stated.

No-one saw Johnny standing in the door way until it was too late, Ben had said his piece. "Why don't you listen to the facts before you decide to judge me!" he said angrily hurling a fire bold at the man of stone.

Sue arose and walked to her brother, "Calm down," she told him and then looked at Ben, "He's right, you didn't wait to hear what we had to say!" she said annoyed, and turned her attention back to her brother, saying gently "Come and sit with us."

Ben looked at Johnny, and saw that he may have been wrong at assuming his recklessness when he saw the hurt in the young man's eyes.

Johnny proceeded in telling Ben about the occurrences that happened the night before.

After he finished Ben didn't know where to look, he'd never felt so low in his life, and disappointed in himself by jumping to the wrong conclusion. "I'm sorry, I should have listened," he confessed, looking at Johnny, who just shook his head. Ben turned to Reed, "So this girl, what kind of 'inhuman' thing is she?" He then winced as he realised he'd referred to her as a 'thing' and quickly changed his sentence, "I mean what kind of 'inhuman' _being_ is she? Alien or DNA altered like us?"

Reed shrugged, "I don't know, she could be either," he paused, "I'm not really up to date with the differences, I've never seen an alien, let alone take a blood sample," he half laughed.

"So she's still sleeping?" Ben asked them.

"Yeah," Sue replied, "I looked in on her before I came in here," he explained.

"So did I when I got up," Johnny informed them.

"How did she seem?" Ben asked, showing his concern.

"She seemed ok, I didn't want to wake her up or anything," Johnny said.

Ben nodded, "Well I need to go and wash," he said getting up and making his way to the door.

Johnny got up from the table and poured himself a bowl of cereal, and some coffee into a mug. "Yuck!" he exclaimed taking a sip of the coffee, "It's cold," he explained to the other two as he caught them watching him. Sitting back down on the table he zapped it with a flame and it was instantly bubbling.

"So, how are you feeling today?" Reed asked him concerned.

Johnny smiled, swallowing his mouthful of Cheerios before answering. "Yeah, I'm ok," he said.

"You sure?" Sue asked him stroking his arm.

Johnny pulled his arm away, "Yes, I'm sure!" he said hard.

Sue looked crestfallen by his outburst, "Ok," she said gently.

Her brothers face softened, "Sorry…" he paused, "I'm just trying to forget about last night…" he finished.

Both Sue and Reed nodded, they could understand how he felt, no one wanted to be reminded of a time when they were vulnerable.

All of a sudden an almighty scream was heard from just down the corridor. The three heroes looked at each other and all three jumped to their feet and ran out of the kitchen to see what had happened.

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To be continued

A/n Almost finished, thank you if you are still reading this!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimers: I don't own the F4 characters.

Disclaimers: Same apply, unless stated otherwise, the only characters I own are the ones that are not the F4 characters. Actually, scrap that, the only character I own in this is the girl!

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Chapter 5

The three heroes ran to the direction of where the scream came from and saw the Ben with his back against the wall, and the girl holding a hand up in the air, in the other hand she clutched her bag.

The girl turned to them, "He is an intruder, a monster of some kind, I do not know, I …," she said before Sue intervened.

"It's alright," she said as she approached her and slowly lowered her arm. "He's a friend," she explained.

The girl looked at Ben confused as he dropped to his knees, causing the ground to tremble. "Thanks Suzie," he said allowing Reed and Johnny to help him to his feet. "I take it this is our visitor?" he asked, a question to which Reed answered.

"His name is Ben Grimm," Sue told her, "There's something you should know about us," she said gently. "But first we should all go and sit down," she said looking at the three males, who nodded. All three turned and walked towards the laboratory with Sue and the girl following them.

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When they were all sitting down in a circle, Reed began explaining to her about how they were astronauts, and how they went up into space and were exposed to the cosmic storm cloud. "The cloud altered our DNA," he began, "Ben suffered the most, he no longer looks human," he stated. "I now have the ability to stretch my body," he demonstrated by stretching his arm and touched the ceiling – the girls eyes widened. "Sue can turn invisible and create force fields," on cue the girl looked at Sue as she disappeared before reappearing. "Johnny can become a human fire ball and fly," the girl looked at Johnny and he held up a burning hand.

"I'll show you my flying trick some other time," he said winking at her, making her smile.

The girl looked back at Reed, "Where does Victor Von Doom reside?" she asked.

Reed smiled at her use of English, "He turned out to be evil, and after losing a fight between him and the four of us, he got transported back to his country of Latveria," he explained.

The girl nodded, "I feel it my turn to tell my story," she began, looking at all four faces. "Firstly, allow me to apologise for calling you a monster, I hope you can forgive me," she said looking at Ben.

Ben smiled, "Don't mention it kid, it's all good."

She returned his smile, and took a deep breath and began to tell her story.

"I am not from this planet," as the words left her mouth, each on the team members raised their eyebrows in surprise.

"It is true…" she continued, then all of a sudden she started cackling, a really evil laugh that chilled each hero to the bone. "I have to admit, you have made this oh so easy for me," she said.

Reed looked confused at her change of dialect, "Made what so easy?" he asked, suddenly a little afraid, and he took hold of Sue's hand like a child grasping his mothers.

"Killing you," she said, and pulled out a gun she'd kept hidden in her bag next to her. She aimed at Johnny and fired. He had no time to react and 'flame on', and fell lifeless to the floor.

"Johnny!" Sue screamed, and let go of Reed's hand, and kneeling by her fallen sibling.

The girl took advantage of her not putting up a force field, something which she didn't even think about doing as her brother just being shot was her main priority. She too fell to ground.

Reed held sue in his arms, too shocked to even shed a tear. "What the hell is happening?" Ben asked, he too was shocked and couldn't believe the events unfolding behind his eyes.

The girl smiled a smile so evil it had more stone turning power that Medusa's head, "Don't worry, I don't have a bullet for the two of you. I was going on the element of surprise with the siblings… the two of you are a little bit more complicated." Which was true, would a bullet simply bounce of Reed? Would a bullet even penetrate through Ben's skin?

"Why are you doing this?" Reed asked finally finding his voice. "Why?" his voice cracked as he asked the second question, and tears flowed down his face.

The girl shook her head, "I'm an assassin," she said. "But do I really want to bore you with my story of who sent me to kill you, and why I have healing abilities?" she looked at the two males who were silent. "No," she shook her head mockingly, "I didn't think so."

"I'll crush you bones," Ben stepped threateningly towards her.

The girl smiled a little, "Really?" she reached again into her bag and pulled out a grenade launcher then pointed it at Ben. He blasted into smithereens as soon as she launched one. "I guess not…" she said smiling.

With that she turned to Reed, who looked more bewildered than ever, was this a dream? Was he going to wake up? He pinched himself, and it hurt-he wasn't dreaming.

"I don't understand," he said, still holding Sue in his arms, her blood soaking through his clothes.

"I bet Mr. Fantastic isn't feeling so 'fantastic' at the moment, is he?" she mocked, "Pun intended," she grinned, and pulled out a smaller gun out of her bag. "You didn't even think about searching it, did you?" she teased. It was true, she'd saved Johnny's life, he had no reason not to trust her… but then again he was relatively new to the superhero business.

"Now, this is going to hurt a little bit," she said, and fired at him.

Reed felt the dart pierce his skin, and could feel the heat of the poison flowing into his blood stream. Slowly he lost control of his limbs, and sank to the floor. He had no feeling left in his body, yet was still aware he was slowly melting.

The girl smiled, "I wander if the X-Men will be this easy…" she wandered. Peter Parker fell for it, she healed Mary-Jane and he was putty in her hands. Bruce Banner was a little more difficult, but she killed him in the end.

She could hear sirens in the distant, someone must have reported the gun shots… She gathered her belongings, and quickly ran to the nearest fire escape making an incredibly quick exit, disappearing into the night.

She was never suspected, and never found out, for she was the Secret Assassin. After all, who would suspect a Hero?

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A/n you probably guessed from the title what was going to happen… I decided to change the ending when I wrote a mock ending, and my sister's fiance read it, and thought it was 'sick and twisted… funny in a morbid black comedy way.'

A lot of questions are still extremely unanswered, and confused, but if you look for the answers, there won't be as many questions… after all, what the fun in having all the answers? All the fun is found figuring it all out!


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